Blog entry #16
Pace | Pelli choopulu | Perungudi | Pollen allergy
Pace
Pace IIT coaching class in Mumbai was where I went for IIT coaching during 11th and 12th grades. Other city folks might be more familiar with FIITJEE, Narayana, Chaitanya, Resonance, and Aakash Institute. These classes used to be fun - 6 to 9pm in the night - physics, chemistry, and math - math being my favourite, as always! I still recall some of the things we learnt in calculus. It wasn’t like a typical school classroom, the teachers there spoke mostly in Hindi. Although I did not get into IIT, attending those classes left me with one of the best friendships I have that continues till today, with my friend Gauri :)
Pelli choopulu (Hyderabad)
This was the first ever Telugu movie I watched in the theatre. My first intro to Vijay Devarakonda as well, who won a national award for this film. I was in my third year, so by then I had a decent grasp on comprehending Andhra Telugu, although I wished some parts had subtitles. I liked the movie plot, and enjoyed the first half. I found the second half slightly dragging, but there was some light comedy which was entertaining. I learnt a new phrase for "mind your own business" with a tinge of sarcasm: "Naa chaavu nenu chasthaanu neeku enduku!?" (I’ll die my death, why do you care?)
Perungudi
My first home in Chennai, rightly called "Happy Home". This is a PG in Perungudi, just over a kilometre away from my office. I stayed here for almost a year, but only towards the end did I bond with my roommate Manupriya, with whom I’m still in touch with, gladly. Living in a PG was fun - it appealed to the inner self-discipline in me. I followed an amazing routine and was consistent with my daily habits, and everything was well-aligned to help me focus on my internship, because I badly wanted an offer! Walking to and from office was fun too, except for the heavy laptop and charger I had to lug around. Overall, it was simply splendid to have tried out the "PG experience" for once.
Pollen allergy
Every time I visited Bangalore, the most important item in my backpack was my inhaler. I know it sounds like I’m an NRI, but I really did have pollen allergy! (Why NRI? See Kenny Sebastian’s stand-up video on that) Just one day in Bangalore, and it would trigger bouts of sneezing - these were days before COVID, before people would give you dirty and scared looks if you sneezed. So it wasn’t an issue, just that it was tiring! Luckily, I don’t get those allergies anymore, but foreigners or sensitive immune system folks visiting Bangalore, hope you have your Zyrtec with you!
Image courtesy: Google ©
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